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Kerry Storace October 27, 2014 Linguistic Dimensions Study Community Description  Currently I am teaching seventh graders at a school located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. New York City is considered the cultural center of the United States and, as a result of that, there are a myriad of activities geared towards adolescents both in an outside of school. Being that the students in my school come from Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens, they have a number of different activities or programs that they can choose to participate in. Although students do spend the majority of their days at school or working on academics their lives often expand into other areas as well.  All of the students in my class are required to do independent reading and respond to it with reading guides (example on the following page). Although this is a requirement, students are allowed to choose their own reading material for this particular assignment. Even so, they often struggle to complete the required one hour per day of reading. Although students may not complete seven hours of reading each week, they do spend time outside of school reading and deciding upon books. Recently my school has decided to add more books to their library and they asked students for their suggestions. This is an example of how students literary practices in and outside of school often bleed into one another. As demonstrated in the example, part of the reading response discusses where the student read and the distractions they may have encountered. Something I found surprising were the amount of students who share their room with a sibling. This is not an uncommon practice; [LG1]

however, many students reported that they share a room with a sibling of the opposite gender who is between the ages of 16-20. Upon speaking to my cooperating teacher, I learned that in Manhattan this is actually common practice. Unfortunately, many students, particularly males, find this difficult and distracting. One student in particular noted that he and his sister share the same work space and, as she is in college, they are constantly arguing about who can use the space and when. On the other hand, another student shares his room with his brother who is close to him in age and he stated that not only does he consider his brother one of his best friends, they also share many mutual friends who they spend time with during the weekends. This particular student is actually a struggling reader; however, he spent his own time writing a short story about himself, his brother, and their friends and their lives in the future. I would love to provide an example but as this was not a school assignment I have not seen it. Even though this is a student who often struggles to write in class, he became inspired by the life he and his peers lead outside of school. Obviously not all activities outside of school involve reading and writing. One program many of my students participate in is an after school parks program. I observed part of this program which consists of students staying after school with an instructor who is not a teacher at the school. The program is separate from the school but they have created a partnership so that students can participate. The instructor takes students to Central Park to take photographs. Through this program, not only do students gain exposure to the community around them, they also learn how to use cameras manually and gain knowledge regarding photography. Fostering artistic passion in students is important to their social as well as their academic lives. One student in this program has actually expressed an interest in being a photographer as his profession later in life.  The students in my class come from a variety of different backgrounds with different customs and values surrounding them. Not every student is involved with a specific religion; however, many of those who are use this as a way of participating in additional activities. One student is very involved in her church choir, again demonstrating the importance of the arts to students. She is required to rehearse during the week and performs on weekends during the church services. Another student not only attends temple but also goes to Hebrew School on the weekends. For these students, religion plays an important part in how they connect not only to their communities but their families as well.  Although students in my class come from many different backgrounds and boroughs, they all spend time on the Upper West Side as that is where their school is located. Some of them are able to walk to school while others take multiple trains and busses to arrive. Some students escort a younger sibling and some students are escorted by their parents. Regardless of their morning routine, all students covet having “lunch out”. Lunch Out is a program at the school that allows students to leave campus for their lunch and recess period. Although every student wants it, it is only permitted to students who show maturity and good behavior. Many students choose to spend their lunch period at a neighborhood pizza place called Two Boots. What is interesting is, when I observe students there, about half of them are eating pizza and the other half has lunches they brought from home. Lunch Out is less about being able to buy food and more about taking a break from the school day to spend time with friends. Their language, attitude, and physical behavior when they are out at lunch is much more relaxed and informal when compared to students who eat in the cafeteria.  After discussing their communities and home lives, I discovered many things about my students that I may not have known. This essay notes some particular examples but many students are also involved in sports, technology, dance, music, etc. Not only are these important factors in a student’s life, they are also things that students are excited to discuss. The students are eager to express to their teachers the importance of these activities. For most students, all aspects of their life are affected by school, community, family, and friends.

Kerry Storace CTGE 5531 November 17, 2014 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 15.3333px;">Think Tank <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 15.3333px;"> This reading focused on the various ways grammar can be learned and taught. As a teacher and a student I have seen and experienced many of the methods mentioned such as workbooks, mini lessons, etc. The author of the book explained many reasons why more traditional methods are unsuccessful. Although there were a number of suggested alternatives, one of the more complex ideas was using free writes to learn and teach grammar. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 15.3333px;"> Free writing, by definition, does not require a specific focus on grammar; rather, it is focused on content, or just the action of writing itself. In fact, I generally would not examine a free write to get a sense of a student’s grammar. I recently collaborated with Ashley to analyze a free write for grammar mistakes and we were unsure if this was an accurate way of assessing grammar. In a free write, we are more likely to assess content. Correct grammar is taught because it can enhance content by getting across specific ideas more clearly. If we do not teach grammar with the ultimate goal of receiving successful and interesting written pieces created by our students, what is the point? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 15.3333px;"> The free write technique does require students to edit their writing after receiving instruction, however, the instruction is also content based. By using specific texts that use grammar as a way of enhancing writing, students can become inspired to do the same in their own work. As they improve their content, their grammar becomes more accurate and vice versa. Although this is a smart way of internalizing grammar, it does create some problems from my perspective. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 15.3333px;"> In my own class, if students are advised to edit or revise a free write (often a “do now” in my classroom), they frequently rewrite the entire passage. Instead of changing or editing specific parts, their entire mind set changes. As they are being asked to revise the free write, they see it as a different sort of assignment. Often times, by making their essay more “correct,” the content suffers or, in some cases, content from the original piece is completely eliminated. I do think that the particular technique described in the book does address some of these issues. It is significant that their writing journals leave a blank page next to the original piece. In this way, a teacher could see how or why a student made specific changes. Also, the idea of not allowing a student to rip a page out of their notebook reinforces the idea that mistakes are inevitable and something that can be learned from as opposed to something to hide or discard. I can also see how using a “mentor text” can inspire interesting thought regarding the content they have already written. Vanna discussed the idea of explaining how to revise and using content as a revision technique for grammar. The most important aspect of this teaching technique is the repetition. As students become more comfortable with the process, they will be more likely to respond in a positive way.

[LG1] I wish I could read these documents, but the picture is too far away! I tried zooming in. These are their independent reading guides, right? What kinds of texts are they interested in?